Thursday, January 1, 2009

Otho Robards Singleton, a Mississippi Statesman

Otho Robards Singleton's Grave Marker In Canton Cemetery, Canton, MSb. October 14, 1814; d. January 11, 1889According to Wikipedia, Otho Robards Singleton was a native of Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Kentucky, one of six children born to Lewis Taylor Singleton and Rebecca Robards. Singleton graduated from Bardstown University and the University of Kentucky law department, and he was admitted to the bar in 1838. He moved to Mississippi, where he practiced law in Canton. Family biographical information shows that Singleton married his first wife, Martha A. Field, in Madison County, MS, on August 11, 1843. Otto and Martha Singleton had three children, Richard H., born May 9, 1844, Thomas T., born 1848, and Catherine F. ("Kate"), born 1851. Martha is believed to have died in 1851. On November 8, 1859, Otto Singleton married Eliza Y. Laughborough, a widow who was born circa 1827 in Tennessee.

Wikipedia further states that In 1846, Singleton was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives and served until 1847. Between 1848 and 1854, Singleton served in the Mississippi State Senate. He later represented Mississippi as a Democrat in the U. S. Congress from 1853 - 1855 and again from 1857 - 1861. In 1861, Singleton withdrew from the U. S. Congress and served as a representative to the Confederate Congress from 1861 - 1865, when he returned to Canton to continue his law practice. About ten years later, Singleton was re-elected to the U. S. Congress, where he served six terms from March 4, 1875 until March 3, 1887. Singleton died almost two years later in Washington, D. C. on January 11, 1889, and the former Congressman's body was brought home to Mississippi, where he was buried in Canton Cemetery.